


Trying on Costumes

by alifletcher2010



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Halloween Costumes, Star Wars References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21822376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alifletcher2010/pseuds/alifletcher2010
Summary: Rowan Whitethorn had NOT thought this through
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

Rowan had not thought this through.

Somewhere in the haze of his hormones and repressed feelings for his best friend he had completely forgotten that every Halloween costume made for females ever were basically lingerie with headbands and tails. But he had agreed to help Aelin find a costume, so here he was, sitting in agony as she paraded around in next to nothing.

He knew female costumes were always a little on the skimpy side, but this had been pure agony so far. It was as if Aelin was purposefully trying to get a rise out of him. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought she knew about his little crush.

“This one is ridiculous!” Aelin whined, stepping out of the dressing room in a two piece supergirl costume that covered about as much as a bikini.

“Umm. It’s nice?” Rowan wasn’t sure what to say. The tanned expanse of Aelin’s stomach was on full display as well has her long, lithe legs. He gulped and then resolutely looked away.

“You’re kidding right? We live in Terrasen. We’re predicted to get a foot of snow on Halloween. And I have yet to find anything that’s not going to give me frostbite.”

“The witch one wasn’t bad.”

Aelin considered it for a moment. “Yeah. I’d still get hypothermia in it though. Ugh. This is so unfair! Why do females only get impractical costumes? The men’s section was full of costumes with pants. Actual pants?”

“Um, because our patriarchal society continues to value women based on appearance?” Rowan felt like a hypocrite saying that while struggling to keep his eyes on Aelin’s face. Thankfully she stepped back into her dressing room and he loosed a deep breath.

“It’s not like I have anything against owning your sexuality, it’s just, I don’t want to get pneumonia while doing so.”

Rowan huffed a laugh.

“You never told me, what are you going as?”

“Uh,” Rowan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “An X-wing pilot. You can get a lot of layers under those jumpsuits.”

Aelin scoffed. “Not even fair.”

Silence fell for a moment and then the curtain slid open again.

“What do you think, flyboy?”

Rowan looked up and gulped. Aelin was leaning dramatically against the divider in the quintessential Leia slave costume. The room suddenly very warm and stuffy. He had never been one of those guys who had drooled over that particular costume, but seeing Aelin in it was changing his mind.

Aelin chuckled and Rowan realized he was staring. Quickly he snapped his jaw closed and met Aelin’s mirth filled eyes.

“It’s also a good option.”

Aelin stepped closer until she was a breath away from him, slotting herself between his legs. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, her warm breath sending shivers down his spine. “I’m going to go as an x-wing pilot too, but I think I’m going to get this one as well. Just so you know I have it.”

She slipped away from him and turned back into her dressing room, giving him a molten look before she closed the curtain.

Rowan was positive she knew about his crush.


	2. Costume Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I got invited to a costume party. Do you want to come with me?”

After their moment at the costume store Rowan did the reasonable and mature thing with his feelings.

He avoided Aelin.

He felt like such a coward. His best friend, who he had been in love with for ages, showed the slightest inclination that his feelings might be reciprocated and her calmed up and couldn’t even be in the same room as her. Maybe it was because he kept seeing her in that Leia costume, which really shouldn’t be affecting him as much as it was, or maybe it was really because he was scared.

Scared she didn’t feel as deeply as him. Scared it would mess everything up.

He really was a coward.

Aelin probably knew it too. He could tell she was pissed at him. She had stopped trying to talk to him, rolled her eyes everytime he less than discreetly left when she entered a room.

“All this pinning is making me sick.” Fenrys flopped onto Rowan’s bed, where he had been laying, scrolling through his and Aelin’s last messages from the week before. He hadn’t brought himself to talk to her.

“Shut up, Fen.”

“Come on man, you guys are making the rest of us sick. Just put us all out of our misery and get together already.”

Rowan sighed. “I want to. It’s just…what if I screw this up? She’s my best friend, I can’t stand the thought of having to cut her out of my life.”

Fenrys slapped the back of his head. “Ow. What the hell was that for?”

“You’re an idiot. How is that any different than what’s going on right now? You’re so worried about making a mess of your friendship by telling her how you feel that you can’t see that you’re already wrecking it by pushing her away. Just take the plunge Ro.”

Rowan sighed. It was a truth he didn’t want to admit. But Fenrys was right. He pulled up a new text message.

I got invited to a costume party. Do you want to come with me? I could use a co-pilot.

–

Rowan could feel his heart hammering in his ears as he walked up to the house. He was wearing his X-wing costume and was thankfully toasty warm despite the early snowfall. Only his ears felt cold, exposed with his long hair pulled up into a bun. He pulled at the collar which felt far too tight. Perhaps he was a little too warm.

Warm arm and a crush of bodies greeted him when he stepped inside. The room was packed with every sort of costume on the planet. There were the classic vampires and witches, every superhero under the sun, and even a small congregation of blow up dinosaurs. But Rowan couldn’t see the one person he wanted to see.

Slowly he made his way around the room, avoiding the keg stands and a genderbent Joker and Harley making out. Finally, there against the wall, he spotted an orange jumpsuit.

Aelin looked ravishing, even in a bulky flight suit. Her golden hair shown in the dim lights and her eyes sparkled as she spoke with a Jedi. A flash of jealousy flared up inside him at the smiles she bestowed on them. But then he let it go. He definitely deserved it.

“Hey,” he said as he approached her. “I’m glad you came.”

Aelin looked at him, uncertainty evident in her face. “Well, I couldn’t let you go without your wingman.” Her signature smirk didn’t quite meet her eyes and the joke seemed hollow and flat.

“Uh, yeah,” Rowan sheepishly rubbed at his neck, not sure how to broach the distance that had grown between them. “Do you want to grab a drink?”

“Sure.” Aelin followed him to the kitchen where they poured themselves drinks and then stood sipping them in awkward silence. It had never been like this between them before, uneasy and silted.

After a few minutes they both spoke. 

“So are-” 

“Aelin, I-”

They laughed uneasily. 

“Uh, you go ahead, Aelin.”

She nodded, looking down into her drink, not meeting his eye. “I’m sorry. I obviously made you uncomfortable the other day. I thought we both…anyway, nevermind. We don’t have to talk about it agai-”

Rowan wasn’t sure what spurred him into action, maybe it was the way she couldn’t look at him, the way her voice spoke of pain, or that he had been so utterly and completely stupid, but he cut her off by cupping her face in his hands and crushing his lips to hers.

Aelin gasped into his mouth before reciprocating, her lips fierce and passionate against his own. In the back of his mind he recognized the clatter of something on the ground, but he couldn’t bring himself to worry about it now, not with Aelin winding her arms around his neck and pulling herself so close to him, so close he could feel every curve of her body against his.

They stood like that, intertwined in each other, expressing in action what they couldn’t in words for some time, until the need for air broke them apart.

“It’s about time Buzzard,” Aelin said breathlessly. 

Rowan smiled down at her and was about to reply when he noticed she was completely soaked and her cup was on the ground. “I’m sorry I made you drop your drink.”

Aelin gave him a wicked grin. She stood up on her toes to whisper in his ear. “Well, maybe you should take me home and I can change into my other costume.”

Rowan couldn’t get them out of there fast enough.


End file.
